Thursday, September 24, 2009

"Avi Mizrahi, head of the Central Command of the Israeli Army, and a number of senior Israeli military officials, toured Bethlehem on Wednesday along with Palestinian security forces and senior security officers.

Mizrahi was in one of four Israeli military jeeps accompanied by a number of Palestinian security forces vehicles. The Israeli Radio reported on Thursday that Mizrahi conducted the tour after an extended meeting with Palestinian security officials in Bethlehem.

An Israeli security official stated that Mizrahi toured recently several Palestinian cities in coordination with the Palestinian Authority of president Mahmoud Abbas.......

Bethlehem governor, Abdul-Fattah Hamayil, told the Maan News Agency, that this is a traditional event and refused to provide any further details.

Maan added that according to some sources, Israel intends to hand the security control over some areas in the Bethlehem district to the Palestinian Authority. The report was not confirmed by any official. Palestinian and Israeli security forces used to conduct these routine drives in the Bethlehem area before the outbreak of the Al Aqsa Intifada in late September 2000. "